By now most people are familiar with the objections raised to Mike Ashley’s Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF and its all male (and most likely all white) contributors. There’s no need to rehash all of that again, but the debate and discussion surrounding the issue prompted me to write two blog posts soliciting science fiction genre readers considered mindblowing written by women or people of color. The response was about what I expected: commenters had no trouble naming both authors and specific works of fiction they felt were mindblowing or otherwise amazing.

As you’ll see, the lists are long. Very long. Some fantasy stories/novels and fantasy-only authors may have snuck in, but this is mainly just science fiction. Had I asked for a similar list of fantasy fiction, I’m sure it would be more than twice as long.

One of the best posts I read during the Mindblowing antho discussion was by Claire Light. She laid out, in great depth, how editors should be going about putting together reprint anthologies of this nature. It’s also good advice for any short fiction editor, be it of anthologies or of a magazine. One of the first steps involves going out and reading diverse stuff. But since someone always finds a way to claim that they just don’t know where to find such or who the women and/or people of color writing in the genre are, I hope that this list will go a long way toward alleviating that problem.

Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (anthology) edited by Sheree R. Thomas

Dark Matter: Reading the Bones (anthology) edited by Sheree R. Thomas

Novels Mentioned

Ring of Swords by Eleanor Arnason

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Iron Shadows by Steven Barnes

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia E. Butler

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan

Synners by Pat Cadigan

Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter

Hunter of Worlds by C J Cherryh

Cyteen by C J Cherryh

Voyager in Night by C J Cherryh

Chanur’s Homecoming by C J Cherryh

The Fires of Azeroth by C J Cherryh

Heavy Time by C J Cherryh

Stars in the Pocket like Grains of Sand by Samuel R Delaney

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany

The New Gulliver by Esmee Dodderidge

Age of Ruin by John M. Faucette

Life by Gwyneth Jones

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Lathe of Haven by Ursula K Le Guin

Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon

Blue Light by Walter Mosley

Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor

Body of Glass by Marge Piercy

Natural History by Justina Robson

The Female Man by Joanna Russ

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel

Beauty by Sherri S Tepper

Silent City and In the Mother’s Land by Elizabeth Vonarburg

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

Bellwether by Connie Willis

Passage by Connie Willis

Authors Mentioned

All of the authors of the works above plus those whose body of work was recommended in the posts.

Ali Smith

Andre Norton

Angelica Gorodischer

Anne McCaffrey

Audrey Niffenegger

Brenda Cooper

C J Cherryh

C.L. Moore

Carolyn Ives Gilman

Catherine Asaro

Chris Moriarty

Colson Whitehead

Connie Willis

Craig Laurance Gidney

Darryl A. Smith

Derrick Bell

Diane Duane

Eleanor Arnason

Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Hand

Elizabeth Moon

Elizabeth Vonarburg

Eluki bes Shahar

Esmee Dodderidge

Greg Van Eekhout

Gwyneth Jones

Haruki Murakami

Helen Oyeyemi

Hiromi Goto

James Tiptree, Jr.

Jane Emerson / Doris Egan

Joan Sloncewski

Joanna Russ

John M. Faucette

Justina Robson

K.J. Parker

Kage Baker

Kate Elliott

Kathe Koja

Kazuo Ishiguro

Kelley Eskridge

Kelly Link

L. Timmel Duchamp

Leigh Brackett

Lois McMaster Bujold

M. A. Foster

Madeleine L’Engle

Margaret Atwood

Marge Piercy

Marion Zimmer Bradley

Mary Doria Russel

Mary Gentle

Melissa Scott

Minister Faust

Nalo Hopkinson

Nancy Kress

Nicola Griffith

Nisi Shawl

Nnedi Okorafor

Octavia E. Butler

Pat Cadigan

Raphael Carter

Rebecca Ore

Rosemary Kirstein

Salman Rushdie

Samuel R. Delany

Sherman Alexie

Sherri S Tepper

Steven Barnes

Suzy McKee Charnas

Tais Teng

Tanith Lee

Ted Chiang

Tobias S. Buckell

Vandana Singh

Walter Mosley

If there’s a mindblowing science fiction story, book, or author you feel should be included in the list, please say so in the comments. This list is by no means exhaustive or written in stone.

If you want to keep up with what women and writers of color are publishing in the genre right now, keep an eye on the Carl Brandon Society and Feminist SF wikis, where there are ongoing efforts to keep track of what’s being published.

The Bottom Line: There is no longer any excuse for editors (or readers) to not know who the women and POC writing notable science fiction are, anymore. Here we have writers of hard and soft SF, of far and near futures, of Earth and planets beyond. If you cannot find at least one story or one author from this list to include in your anthology, you’re not trying. At all.

Thank you to all of the people on The Angry Black Woman and Feminist SF: The Blog who contributed to this list. Interested parties should also check out the descriptions and discussions that went along with a lot of these recommendations, as they delve deeper into why they’re loved or considered mindblowing.

*This story gets my vote for the most mindblowing thing I’ve ever read. It should certainly be reprinted more often and included in anything labeled Mindblowing. Everyone needs to read The Space Traders, period.

K. Tempest Bradford is an African-American science fiction and fantasy author and editor who loves lists but currently has a severe distaste for putting things in alphabetical order.